Every month, plenty New Yorkers dey face the same wahala. Dem dey open dem gas and electric bill, see as the money don increase again, and dem dey start to calculate: Wetin we go cut this month?
Dem no get say for inside that bill, but na dem dey struggle to pay am. And plenty too dey fail. As of this year, more than 1.2 to 1.3 million New Yorkers dey owe for dem utility bills – dem dey owe between $1.8 and $2.3 billion. For New York City and Westchester alone, nearly 16% of Con Edison customers end 2024 dey owe, with almost $950 million owed. That no be just number. Na picture of families wey dey sink, old people wey dey collect small money dey fall more behind, and small businesses wey dey carry debts wey dem no fit pay.
But as New Yorkers dey struggle to pay, Albany no dey really check the system wey dey produce these bills.
For recent years, utility companies like Con Edison, National Grid, NYSEG, and RG&E don dey come back dey beg for permission to increase rates. And every time, the Public Service Commission – small group of people wey Albany appoint – dey approve those increases. Your bills dey go up. Dem own guaranteed returns dey go up. And almost nobody for state government dey ask the basic questions for your behalf:
Were these increases justified? Were affordability protections built in? If utilities over-collect or under-spend, the money dey come back to the ratepayers or e dey quietly pad dem bottom line?
Na here exactly the State Comptroller suppose dey come in – and where the current Comptroller don dey sleep on top of the matter.
The Comptroller suppose be New York’s independent fiscal watchdog. The office get the power to audit state agencies, authorities, and programs, to follow how public money dey go.
Raj Goyle, candidate wey dey run to become the state’s financial watchdog, wan collect New York’s gas and electric bills from the hands of industry-affiliated bureaucrats. Democrat Raj Goyle wan audit the utility companies wey dey always ask for permission to charge customers more because ratepayers need “cop on the beat.”
Goyle blast DiNapoli for no dey do enough to scrutinize the state Public Service Commission, wey he claim say e don be “rubber stamp” as e dey review and approve rate increases for Con Edison, National Grid and other providers.
“E don be like Rip Van Winkle. For too long, our state’s auditors and regulators don dey sleep on top of the matter, dey rubber-stamp higher electric bills for New Yorkers – often on behalf of foreign-owned utilities. Ratepayers deserve better,” Goyle tell The Post.
“This na about fairness. If dem fit raise your bill, the comptroller suppose be the ratepayers’ cop on the beat – person wey dey follow the money, expose the deals, and make sure say New Yorkers finally get real partner for the energy battles wey dey come.”
Goyle’s “Energy Fairness and Ratepayer Accountability” plan go include new “Utility Fairness Audit” powers to directly examine investor-owned utilities, he talk.
“My office go audit the state’s role for inside these price hikes,” he talk. “New Yorkers dey pay more as utilities and dem shareholders dey pocket tax credits, abatements, bonuses, and side deals – and for years nobody for state government don follow the money. I go expose those ones.”